Investigative Methods & Tools

Investigation at hyperlocal scale requires adapting tools and methods originally developed for national or international journalism.

Data Journalism Approaches

Data journalism at neighborhood scale starts with understanding what data exists and how to access it. India has relatively strong legal frameworks for accessing public information, but the practice of actually obtaining and using this data requires persistence and skill.

Core practices:

• Public records acquisition: Learning which government departments hold which records, how to file effective RTI requests, and how to interpret the data you receive
• Working with messy datasets: Government data is rarely clean. Building skills in data cleaning, validation, and cross-referencing is essential
• Creating original datasets: Sometimes the data you need doesn't exist. Systematic observation and documentation can create original datasets about local conditions
• Collaborative verification: Community members can help verify and contextualize data that might mislead outsiders

OSINT for Neighborhoods

Open source intelligence (OSINT) methods—using publicly available information to investigate—translate well to the neighborhood scale, especially for our focus on local ecology and community dynamics.

Applicable methods:

• Ecological & Land Use Analysis: Using historical satellite and aerial imagery to track changes in green cover, water bodies, and land use. This helps us document encroachment, understand urban heat island effects, and monitor the health of our local environment.
• Community Social Media Analysis: Analyzing public social media posts, local groups, and check-ins to understand neighborhood concerns, map informal economies, and identify community hubs. This is less about surveillance and more about listening to the digital pulse of the neighborhood.
• Geolocation and Chronolocation: Verifying when and where events occurred using available evidence, which can be crucial for documenting environmental incidents or tracking the history of a specific place.

Tools and Resources

• Resources
  • The Markup — nonprofit newsroom investigating technology's impact on society, with excellent methodology documentation
  • Bellingcat — open source investigation collective, particularly their Online Investigation Toolkit
  • Centre for Information Resilience (CIR)
  • OpenNews — connects journalism and technology communities, resources for newsroom developers
• Example Investigations
  • BuzzFeed News archive — open source data and methodology from BuzzFeed News investigations
  • Cities Can Cost Effectively Start Their Own Utilities Now: example of citizen investigation into municipal utility practices
  • Plasticlist Report: community investigation into microplastics